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Sunday, 8 December 2013

Advent 8

In calendar news, we have presents in the attic and a floral magnet.

Today, we made those stained glass window biscuits, but they looked revolting, due to the dodgy cherry sweets we got from the corner shop, a combination of calamine pink and brown stains. Not so much festive as festering wound. Instead we concentrated on THESE:

EXTERMIBAKE. I am quite pleased with the Christmas daleks.

This is our substitute Christmas tree:

Apart from that, we went to the Christmas market, which was looking a little tawdry in the bright daylight and mild weather, with its chalets of aggressively cinnamon scented tat, Lotto sponsored big wheel ("LOTTERY" is not the word I want to have prominent in my mind when I ascend into the heavens on a big piece of Meccano manned by bored youths playing instrumental versions of Last Christmas) and giant damp tent masquerading as a terrifying snow monster (30 second saunter through tent €4). Then we violently over-decorated our friends' Christmas tree (though not with daleks) and came home and squabbled. Then I did some work. Standard Sunday. Sorry, this advent thing was a terrible idea and is monstrously boring, isn't it? Never mind. I won't let that get in the way of ploughing grimly on with filling you in on the tedious minutiae of my December. Please feel free to do likewise, because I very much enjoy other people's minutiae and do not find it tedious at all (I can only hope you feel the same).

41 comments:

My day has been very tedious as I have been nursing a monstrous hangover whilst trying to decorate a too big tree with the assistance of the children and then having to do another nit check at bath time. The joy. Although last night's party was lovely so at least there's that.

Woke up hungover, squabbled about grocery shopping, squabbled while grocery shopping, went to B&Q, squabbled in B&Q in front of friend who we went to B&Q with because husband went off the grid and left me in the gardening section where I got irritable, came home, made mulled wine, friends arrived with three-year-old girl twins who horrified and fascinated me, drank mulled wine, made chilli con carne, squabbled about housework, drank too much red wine, may or may not have gotten slightly weepy about christmas tree, was THRILLED to discover new advent post (which series is my everything), read your blog, ordered dalek cookie cutters, missed the living hell out of you, got gleeful at seeing you soon, typed this. xx

Today is the last day of my vacation. I sort of tidied up the house. We failed to buy a tree yet and now it's snowing so they'll all be wet. Jewish husband is very annoyed that we didn't get one the day after Thanksgiving. He does love Christmas.

We had breakfast - ALONE! In a RESTAURANT! With starched tableclothes and silver teapots and everything. And then we wandered around St James in the glaring winter sun and marvelled at how beautiful London is WITHOUT CHILDREN, and went to see Mandela's statue in Parliament Square, and wondered if the ratio of Mandela floral tributes to Diana floral tributes is directly or inversely proportional to the importance of the person (I can only assume it's inversely, but then I'm not English or a royalist, so maybe I have it wrong). Then we came home and picked the children out of the tree and the decorations out of the grubby hand and dealt with the ensuing hysteria. Also, I have been working on an article entitled "The Business Value of Environmental Compliance" since 9pm which has wiped all the breakfast loveliness from my brain. Sigh.

I concur on the vicarious Advent appreciation. I had a friend visiting this weekend so we did both Brussels and G(h)ent Christmas markets and I spent the whole time worrying that they were not as festive and exciting as she was expecting. Brussels was rammed; Gent had NO MULLED WINE. Shocking behaviour from the Flems.

Ooh yes that sounds lovely! Sadly we are back in Oxford at the weekend for the Dutchmans' work do and my graduation and birthday and fake Christmas with the parents. Five days of social whirl! I am preparing for it by not speaking to anyone today.